Intolerance: Russian President Vladimir Putin takes a hard-line against protesters

A new hard line law that will fine protesters a year's salary is awaiting President Vladimir Putin's signature.

Putin has cracked down on the opposition since returning to the presidency, and he seems to be betting that by threatening demonstrators with prison time and harsh fines he can quash the street protests that have posed an unprecedented challenge to his 12-year rule.

His strategy faces a major test on Tuesday when the opposition plans its first mass demonstration since he began his third presidential term on May 7.

Some opposition leaders contend that
the tough line will help their cause by fueling anger and bringing more
people out for next week's protest. Others say the repression will scare
away the middle-class protesters who turned out in the tens of
thousands for peaceful demonstrations this winter.

Putin, for his part, is refusing any talks with the opposition.

'He understands only one language,
the language of force, and therefore he perceives any normal discussion
and any rational compromise as personal weakness,' said Yevgenia
Chirikova, an environmental activist who has campaigned against
Kremlin-backed road construction that is destroying a forest outside
Moscow.

Chirikova and Ilya Yashin, who recently spent 15 days in jail for leading unsanctioned protests, were among a group of opposition leaders who met Thursday in Moscow to discuss the implications of the new law, which would jack up fines to 300,000 rubles ($9,000).

Yashin tried to ease worries, saying
protest leaders would collect donations for those punished, as was done
within hours when St. Petersburg teacher Tatyana Ivanova was fined
30,000 rubles ($1,000) last week.

Ivanova
was found guilty of damaging the reputation of an education department
official she had accused of pressuring her and other poll workers to
falsify the December parliamentary vote.

Repression: Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, left, with environmental activist Yevgenia Chirikova tear a picture of Putin to pieces at a protest earlier this year. Dissidents could be fined a year's wages if the new law goes ahead

Russian police detain a protester near the Kremlin in Moscow on Wednesday. Street protests have posed an unprecedented challenge to Putin's 12-year-rule

The anti-Putin protests broke out after the December election, which observers said was riddled with fraud in favor of Putin's party, and continued in the run-up to the March presidential vote.

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As many as 100,000 people turned out in the frigid cold for demonstrations demanding free elections, and the streets of Moscow rang with cries of 'Russia Without Putin' and 'Putin Is a Thief.'

Although he was denied a majority in Moscow, Putin won the election to return to the Kremlin post he had held from 2000 to 2008 before moving into the prime minister's office to avoid violating a constitutional ban on more than two consecutive terms.

With the election over, the protest movement seemed to fade.

But on the eve of Putin's inauguration in May, an opposition march and rally drew tens of thousands, far more than either the organisers or the police had expected.

The demonstration turned violent
after police restricted access to the square where the rally was to be
held. Bottles and pieces of asphalt were hurled at police, who struck
back by beating protesters with truncheons and detaining more than 400.
Some demonstrators were dragged away by their hair. Opposition leaders
claim the clash was provoked by pro-Kremlin thugs.

Violence: Russian riot police try to disperse opposition protesters on May 6. New legislation would provide police with new powers against Occupy-style camps

In the days that followed, police chased opposition activists around the city, detaining hundreds.

Then the crackdown eased, as the authorities allowed the opposition to set up camp on a leafy boulevard. But there were strings attached: The organisers could not put up placards or make political demands, since that would technically turn the camp into an unsanctioned protest.

The authorities tolerated the camp for about a week before getting a court to rule that the activists were creating a mess in the neighborhood, giving police the legal right to disperse them.

The anti-protest legislation also would provide police with new powers against such Occupy-style camps. 'Large-scale public gatherings' could be banned and the organisers fined if they disrupted public order.

In a Levada poll released Thursday, 65 percent said they expected the protests to continue, although they differed on how likely the protests were to intensify or spread.

The poll, conducted May 25-29 among 1,604 people across Russia, has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The bill was rushed through the Kremlin-controlled parliament this week in an effort to get it in place before Tuesday's big protest.

Some opposition leaders held out hope that Putin would refuse to sign it. Others, however, said they had no illusions, pointing to a comment by Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov after the violence on the eve of the inauguration. Protesters who hurt riot police, he said, 'should have their livers smeared on the asphalt.'